To the cemetery via wheelbarrow
An elderly aunt livng in England recently told me a story from her childhood concerning uncles of hers. It seems that before my great great grandmother died the family asked her about funeral arrangements, she apparently said she didnt care to take her to the grave in a wooden box and a wheelbarrow.
Forward a few weeks and great great gran dies, her very respectful (tongue in cheek as I say this) children bang together a box put her in it a after a "day on the town" or a day in the pubs decide its now time to take her to the funeral home.
My elderly aunt remembers the kids sitting in the gutters of Southwarks main road while four drunk rrelatives push my great great grandmother to her final resting place.
Some of you can guess whats coming and of course you are correct they had difficulty pushing the wheelbarrow and finally over she goes and great great gran is laying on the pavement. This supposedly took place because the "boys" could not navigate the bend in the road.
My aunt remembers police officers and other by standers rolling on the ground and laughing so loud they were holding their sides. She says it took over an hour to get great great gran into the box again and on her way.
While I find the whole story horrific and Aunt Doreen swears its true you have to admit some of us can picture family members doing this.
Does anyone remember hearing about this and is there a bend in the main road in Southwark. I plan to be in England this June and would love to see the place this happened, just so I can tell this to my grandchildren one day.
Eevers
What a great storey, this has got to be true, you couldn't make this up and anything was possible in Bermondsey.
This does however pose some questions,
What was her name
Where was she buried
Exactly which road was she pushed down? and the year in which this happened.
I'm so intrigued to find out just as you are.
Lets hope someone can throw some light on the subject.
Keep these stories coming, cheers
Bermondseyboy
Since my aunt says she witnessed this a a young child I can only imagine it took place before WW2 or there abouts.
Next time I have the chance to talk to her on the phone i will try and get more information. Would really be a family story to tell in generations to come.
